Sharp Says It Will Begin Shipping New iPhone Display This Month

On Thursday, Sharp's new president, Takashi Okuda, said that his company will begin shipping iPhone displays starting this month, according to a report from Reuters. Okuda made the statement at a press event following the release of Sharp's quarterly earnings report. Sharp's president didn't make note of the display's size, but Reuters reports that the screens are destined for the next version of the iPhone.

"People are expecting a new iteration of the iPhone to hit the market sometime in the September-October time frame, so this kind of comment fits in to what we’ve been hearing in the market, generally," IHS analyst Vinita Jakhanwal told Wired. Sharp, Japan Display, and LG Display are the three likely suppliers for the next iPhone's display.

This isn't the first time that the big boss of an overseas Apple suppliers has waded into the speculation pool of unannounced Apple products. In June, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said that the iPhone 5 "will put Samsung's Galaxy S III to shame." And Gou had previously said his company was making preparations for the iTV, Apple's rumored television. Sharp will reportedly supply the displays for Apple's TV set.

The rumorsphere is rich with iPhone 5 speculation, but most of the reports tie back to unnamed sources, so it's particularly odd when the president of a huge multi-national corporation jumps into the speculative fray. Who knows, maybe Okuda is trying to publicly triangulate his company against Samsung, which is both a generous display supplier to Apple in the tablet space, and an adversary of Apple in headline-making patent litigation.

The display of the next iPhone is expected to be larger than that of the iPhone 4S, stretching to 4 diagonal inches. The current iPhone has a 3.5-inch display. The new iPhone display will also reportedly be manufactured using in-cell technology, which means it will be thinner, lighter and more power-efficient than current displays.

Okuda didn't confirm the size or technology used in the production of Apple's next iPhone display.

Various sources are reporting the next iPhone will be unveiled on Sept. 12, so we should know soon if Okuda's Thursday statement bears any weight.